Bart's Past
by bw8801
Summary: Bart has hidden many secrets from the Team, and he doesn't plan on revealing them anytime soon. But, when a telepath sends him into a coma and leaves the keys to unlocking it in his memories, the Team is forced into a no win scenario. Leave Bart in his unconscious state forever, or save him and invade his private memories while doing so. (Rewrite of Bart's Past (Original))
1. Chapter 1

Bart stared at the picture. He felt numb as he stared at the smiling, innocent faces. _They don't even know what's coming. And because of me they never will._

He felt a tear run down his cheek, but wiped it away. He forced himself to continue staring at the picture. He wanted to burn the image in his mind. Jinx's long pink hair, which she always complained about but never cut (She always needed to make everything an event). Kiran's smile, which lit up a room even better than her powers (They used to joke that she was 'our shining beacon of hope'). Jenni's bright green eyes, almost identical to his own (The gold middle in his ruined it. He always ruined it). The scar across Cissie's face, which she always wore proudly (Bart's always hidden his scars, too scared of what others think.) Miguel's-

Oh god. _Miguel._

A new wave of tears ran his face. He covered his mouth with his hand, desperately trying to contain his sobs. He shoved his face in his pillow, hoping to muffle any noises he made. He glanced up at his clock.

 **3:00 am** blinked back him. He groaned.

 _This is gonna be a long night._

Bart spent most of the night staring at the picture and trying not to cry. By morning, his eyes were red and puffy, and he felt slow and sluggish.

"Jay! Bart!" Joan called upstairs. "If you want breakfast, then you'd better hurry!"

Bart trudged down the stairs. He grabbed two plates cupboard. (Joan always grabbed hers last. She claimed that since she was serving and needed less food, it only made sense. Bart, on the other hand, who had grown up learning to scavenge and hoard food for himself and the people he cared about, disagreed.)

He walked over to the stove and held out Joan's plate (She always used the blue plate with orange flowers for breakfast.) Joan get him a stern look.

"You don't have to get me food." She said, while scooping eggs onto the first plate. "I can get my own afterwards." She reminded him while filling up Bart's plate.

"Force of habit." Bart murmured as grabbed some bacon and silverware for each plate. Joan rolled her eyes and smiled at him. The smile quickly morphed into a look of concern.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly. Bart froze for half a second before speeding over to the table.

"Yeah! I'm doing great!" He exclaimed, a bit too quickly and loudly to be believable. Jay looked up from his breakfast and shot Bart a look of confusion before turning to Joan with an identical look. Joan opened her mouth, as she was about to say something, but closed it barely a second later. Bart flashed them both a too big smile and dug into his food to avoid conversation. The meal passed by awkwardly, Joan and Jay both attempting to talk to Bart and Bart vehemently avoiding eye contact. Eventually, Bart made it through his mountain of food, and he started to leave.

"Bart, wait." He paused, wanting to leave, but respecting Joan too much to walk out on her immediately. "Me and Jay might not be related to you, but we do care about you like family. So, if you want to talk to us, we're here."

"I know. And if there's something important, I will tell you," He lied. "But, this is…" _Awful, horrible, traumatizing, the worst day of my life._ "…Stupid. It's not a big deal."

"You're a teenager," Jay joked. "You're allowed to upset over stupid stuff." Bart smiled for a moment before pointing at the door.

"I gotta go. Superhero-y-Team-business-stuff." He sped upstairs and grabbed his phone and keys. "Y'know the drill."

"Say hi to them for us!" Joan called out the door.

"'Kay!" Bart ran to the nearest zeta tube and headed up to the Watchtower. The Watchtower was divided into two parts, one for the League and one for the Team. The League's section was much bigger, it housed most of the labs, training, and meeting rooms, since the League was much bigger and needed more space. But the League section was emptier and more formal, at least according to Zatanna and Raquel. The Team section had more bedrooms, living, and relaxing areas with one main meeting area and one training area. Both groups shared the library, kitchen, mess hall, and computer system. Both sections each had their own locker rooms and storage areas. He headed towards the main TV room in the Team section, waving to various heroes as he passed them. He walked in and saw Garfield sitting upside down on the couch. "Hey!" He greeted.

"Hi." Gar responded dejectedly. Bart raised an eyebrow.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just-, "He paused and looked around. "I need advice."

"Can't you just ask M'gann?"

"She's what I need advice about."

"Well, what about the original team?"

"They'll just tell her." He huffed. "Or she'll go through their heads and see it."

"I thought she wasn't doing that anymore." Bart asked.

"Normally, yeah. But sometimes she still does it without realizing it."

"What about me?" Gar looked at him in confusion. "I won't tell her, and since she doesn't want to see any spoilers, she never goes through my head."

"I don't know." Gar sided-eyed him. "It's not like you have an older sister."

"Well, not a sister. But I do have an older half-brother."

"Really?"

"Yeah! So, tell me!" Bart urged.

"I don't know. It depends."

"On what?" Bart asked, starting to get intrigued. Gar sat up and checked the room again.

"What do you know about..." Gar paused. Bart leaned in and nodded. "… _Dating_?"

"You're dating someone?" Bart whisper-yelled. "Wait, I thought you said you needed advice on M'gann?"

"I do. See, there's this girl in Happy Harbor that I know. We used to hang out in the park a lot before the cave blew up. Anyway, after the whole invasion thing ended and things calmed down, she kinda asked me a on date, or well it was kind of a date. She asked me to a movie, and she doesn't really watch movies, so I told her that we could go to her favorite café thing afterwards and we held hands and she kissed my cheek, so it was kind of a date, or at the very at least, it wasn't _just_ two friends hanging out. And she started warming up to me more afterwards and we've held hand hands a lot more so- "

"Gar!" Bart exclaimed. He stopped. "You're rambling."

"Right. Sorry. So, me and this girl are dating, or kind of dating, at least. I know I have to introduce her to J'onn and M'gann eventually. And J'onn will probably really like her, since they're really similar personality wise. But, M'gann might be more difficult." Gar sighed. "She still sees me as her innocent little brother and I'm worried she might freak out over me dating which might freak out the girl. And I don't want to hide it from her, because that might hurt her trust in me and her feelings. What do I do?"

"Wow. That is a problem. Um, okay, maybe you should talk to J'onn first. See if he can help her adjust to the idea of you dating theoretically. And later once she starts to be okay with it, then you could introduce them."

"Yeah, that sounds smart." Gar got a nervous look on his face. "Um, and how would you tell them that the girl is… magic?"

"Magic like she's amazing or magic like Zatanna and Doctor Fate?"

"Well, she is amazing, but I meant more like Zatanna."

"Okay." Bart thought for a moment. "I'd wait until she actually meets them. Then she can tell them herself."

"Noted." Gar seemed a bit calmer than when Bart walked in. "You're really good at this. Did you have like a girlfriend or something?"

"Uh, "Bart rubbed the back of his head. "Not a girlfriend, no. But I did kind of date this guy- "

"A guy!?"

"Is there a problem with that!?" Bart sneered as he stood up from the couch. He balled his fists and stood up straight, trying to make himself look scary. Gar held up his hands.

"No! No! I'm just surprised! I swear!" Gar exclaimed. Robin and Virgil walked in right that moment.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Robin yelled as he got in between them. "What's going on here?"

" _Nothing_." Bart growled.

"But- "Robin tried to ask.

"It's. Nothing." He barked angrily. Robin gave him a weird look. Bart stomped out of the room. He stormed off to an empty room. He thinks it was supposed to be used for storage, but they didn't have enough stuff to fill it. He crawled into a corner and brought his knees to his chin. _Way to go Bart!_ He thought. _Robin is going to tell Kaldur and M'gann that you almost beat up Garfield, then they'll hate you and kick you off the Team and then Garfield will tell everyone that you're gay, and you'll never be able to face them ever again. God, how could you screw up so badly! Nathaniel warned how people felt about gay people in the past, but you had to go and blow it._ Bart tensed as he heard the door open.

"Bart? You in here?" Virgil called to the dark room. Bart held perfectly still, hoping he wouldn't notice. Virgil sighed. "Come on, man. I know you're in here." Bart waited for a second. Virgil sighed again, before walking into the room and flicking on the lights. Bart glared at him. Virgil walked over and sat down. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

"We both know that's a lie." Bart huffed.

"I told Garfield something about myself, something that most people don't like, and he freaked out and I panicked because sometimes people freak out and hurt me for it, but then you walked in and saw it andRobinisgonnatellKaldurandM'gannandthey'regonnagetmadandkickmeofftheTeamandGarisgonnatelleverybody- "

"Okay, calm down!" Virgil stopped him. "One, they're not going to kick you off the Team. You didn't actually hit him. And even if you did, they'd probably just suspend you for a week, at most. Two, you didn't hear it because you stormed off, but Gar was telling us that it was his fault and he freaked you out. And three, if you think that Gar would tell everyone you're gay, then you really don't know him."

"HE TOLD YOU!"

"Nah, I figured it out."

"What?" Bart started to panic. If Virgil could figure it out, then other people might be able to-

"Dude, calm down. Something about yourself most people don't like, people freak out and hurt you. Those were same things my friend Richie worried about when he came out." Virgil reassured him. Bart started to calm down a bit.

"Your friend?"

"Yeah, not all of us freak out." Virgil joked. "I don't know what you've heard about us 'retro' people, but not all of us hate gay people." He stood up. "And if anyone does give you shit about it, the rest of us will deal with them." He started towards the door when Batgirl came over the intercom.

" _Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Robin, Static, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, and Kid Flash to the meeting area. Show up fully in gear."_

"Time to go." Virgil turned back to Bart. "Ready?"

Bart nodded and stood up. _Time to be a hero._


	2. Chapter 2

Bart and Virgil suited up as fast as they could. Well, no, Virgil suited up as fast as he could. Bart waited for him.

"Shouldn't you be speeding up the meeting room as fast as you can?" Virgil asked once he was done changing. "Isn't that kinda your thing?"

"I'm, uh, not exactly in a rush to see Robin and Gar right now." Virgil side-eyed him, but nodded and started walking towards the meeting area. Bart walked next to him, fidgeting with his gloves. He always got nervous before missions, but this was a new level. This was already a bad day for him, and being on a mission with 1-2 people who are upset at him was not helping.

They got to the main meeting area a few seconds later. M'gann was chatting with Cassie and Batgirl while Robin seemed to be describing something to Garfield and Jaime. As soon as they walked in, Jaime looked up and saw them. He walked up to Bart with a mildly concerned look on his face.

"Robin says you and Gar almost got into a fight. What happened?" He asked, clearly confused. Virgil patted his shoulder and muttered something that sounded vaguely like 'good luck' before walking away. Bart sighed, and leaned to look at Robin, who was now obviously in an argument with Gar.

"I… I freaked out over something he said, and blew it totally out of proportion. He tried to apologize and explain what he meant, but Robin and Virgil walked in before he could finish. It probably looked lot worse than it actually was." Jaime looked relieved.

"Okay, that makes a lot more sense." He looked back at Robin, who now looked like he was being scolded by Gar, while Virgil watched in amusement. The girls had also turned to watch, but they looked more confused than anything.

"As much I hate to break up… whatever this is," She said while motioning towards two of them. "You do have a mission." Everybody sobered up and turned to focus on the computer. "A situation is going down at a big pharmaceutical company in Metropolis. A few days ago, a man with telepathic powers broke in towards the end of the day. He quickly incapacitated all security and has for the last few days been holding all the employees hostage. Superman offered to help multiple times, but the higher-ups of the company have wanted to keep this low-key, which is why is hasn't been in the news. The police have attempted a few different raids but all of them have failed. A few hours ago, the police and company contacted Superman and informed him they needed help, but still wanted to keep it quiet. That's where we come in. Your job is to get in, take him down, and get out without drawing too much attention to the company." She tapped the screen and a picture enlarged. It showed an average looking man.

"The man is Jonathan Michalis. Brown hair, brown eyes, medium build, etcetera. Everyone the police have spoken to describe him as perfectly average, in every way. A few months ago, his family reports that he became withdrawn and quit his job. We have reason to believe that might when he developed his powers. As for his powers, he is a touch telepath, meaning he can read minds through touch and when he uses his powers on someone, he temporarily incapacitates them and gains physical strength after doing so. According to the police that escaped, he feeds on secrets, shame, guilt, and regret. The worse the info is, the more it acts like a drug to him. The more a person has, the longer it takes for them to gain consciousness afterwards. There are also reports of him putting people into a temporary coma where they relive their worst memories repeatedly, that way he can feed on them multiple times." Cassie raised her hand. "Wonder Girl?"

"Has he actually hurt anyone?" Batgirl nodded before tapping the screen again.

"One woman came out of her coma during a police raid and became hysterical, screaming and crying at things that weren't there. And one man who was in a coma flatlined in the hospital after the police the managed to get him out." The mood of the room suddenly seemed much heavier. Batgirl started to explain the plan, but Bart only half listened. Inside he was panicking. If that guy lays one hand on me, then it's over. Everybody knows about the secrets. I gotta be careful.

"Bart. Bart!" He jolted out of his thoughts. Gar was standing in front of him. The rest had moved closer to the computer to discuss options.

"Sorry. Zoned out." He walked towards the group, but Gar grabbed his shoulder to stop him. Bart turned to look at him.

"Um, listen, about the whole 'you liking guys' thing- "

"Listen, it was my fault. I overreacted and ran out without letting you explain. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I knew you wouldn't actually hit me. Well, not unless you had a reason." Gar smiled at him. Bart felt a bit better about the situation. "Sooooo, what was his name?" Gar asked in a sing-song voice. Bart shook his head.

"Nope. Not doing this." He started to walk over to the others.

"What? Tell me!"

"No."

"Come on!"

"Okay. Fine."

"Really!"

"No!"

* * *

" _Alpha Squad, are you in place?_ " Robin asked, doing a last-minute check.

" _Affirmative_." Miss Martian responded. "We are touching down on the roof now."

The plan was for Alpha Squad (Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beetle) to enter through the roof and move down the floors looking for Michalis. Beta Squad (Robin, Static, Beast Boy, and Kid Flash) was going to enter through the back and go up doing the same. Then once they found him they had to take him down. Kid Flash was still panicking, but he kept it under control.

"Tell me."

"No." Beast Boy constantly asking about his love life wasn't not helping.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell- "

"Oh my god, just tell him!" Robin whisper yelled. Bart considered his options.

"If you tell me her name, I'll tell you his."

"Wait, what? Who are you talking about?" Robin asked. Beast Boy ignored him.

"No way! Robin will go find her and stalk her if I say her name!"

"Whose name? Who are you talking about?" Robin kept looking between the two of them. "And I wouldn't stalk her, whoever she is!" He added as an afterthought. Static laughed.

"Nice. Way to go." Robin turned to glare at him. Static just rolled his eyes. Robin might be Batman's protégé, be he wasn't anywhere close to replicating his Bat-glare.

"Are you guys going? Cause we started like 5 minutes ago." Wonder Girl chimed in, breaking up the arguments.

"Yeah, we're going now. Robin got distracted, so he missed the go time." Robin spluttered for a moment, trying to defend himself before eventually grumbling and signaling them to go.

"Remember, we don't actually know how powerful this guy is, so be careful, and keep a low profile." Bart and Beast Boy moved towards the west side of the building while Static and Robin handled the east.

"We meet at the stairs when done with the floor." Static called after them. Beast Boy flashed him thumbs up. Bart peeked around a corner before heading through. Beast Boy followed just behind.

"So, what's his name?"

"Whose name?" Bart responded, trying to play dumb.

"Your boyfriend's." Beast Boy gave him an annoyed look. "Tell me!"

"Tell me your girlfriend's name then." Bart started down the next hallway. Beast boy huffed.

"Fine." He looked around nervously, like he expected Robin or Miss Martian to show up out of nowhere. Well, they could, so his fear wasn't totally ridiculous. "Her name is Rachel. Rachel Roth." Bart vaguely recognized the name, but he knew a lot of people in the future. And he also had a lot of miscellaneous names shoved in his head when learning about the past. "But usually she goes by her middle name, Raven." Now that was a name he recognized. Raven Roth was- well, Bart could spend 20 minutes talking about her and her accomplishments and still only scratch the surface of who she is.

"Huh. She sounds cool." He had to be careful though. Telling Beast Boy any of that would not end well.

"Yeah, she's great." Beast Boy nudged him. "Your turn."

"His name," Bart paused, trying to contain himself. "His name was Miguel."

"Was?" Beast Boy turned to look at him. Bart looked at his feet and started down the last hallway. "Oh. Sorry."

"Whatever. We're done here. Let's meet up with Robin and Static." Bart sped back to the stairs. The other three showed up after a few seconds. They knocked out a few more floors before Wonder Girl called out over the mental link.

" _Guys! I found him!_ "

" _What floor?"_

" _31\. West side. He's in a big office space near the windows."_ The four of them took off up the stairs.

" _Moving towards your location. Keep him busy if you have to, but don't attack until more of us are there._ " Miss Martian reminded her.

" _Don't worry. He's keeping himself busy by monologuing to some of his hostages about he must be 'the greatest villain ever if Superman won't even dare to attack him.'"_

" _Oh my god, I hate villains like that._ " Bart reached the floor. He found Wonder Girl in a hallway, crouching near the office space facing the street. She motioned at him to hide.

"Be careful. He keeps pacing back and forth and looking at the door." Bart nodded, crouching near her. True to her word, Michalis started walking back towards their direction and he was monologuing.

"-the only way it could happen. My plan was perfect, no possible flaws. Not even Batman himself could outwit me."

"Is he serious?" Bart whispered to Wonder Girl. She shrugged.

"I've heard that ego comes with the supervillainy." She glanced through the room. "Miss M is in the other hallway. I can't see Blue but I think he's with her." Static and Robin showed in the hallway a few seconds later.

"Hey. "

"Hey. Where's Beast Boy?"

"He went around to find his sister."

" _Everyone here?"_

" _Yeah. Can I go yet?"_ Wonder Girl clenched her fists.

"Sure. But Cassie- "Wonder Girl ran out without letting her finish. She ran at him, trying to catch him off guard, but at the last second, he grabbed her arm. She stiffened, then fell limply to the floor.

"Wonder Girl!" Bart took off after her. He didn't look, but he could tell Static and Robin were behind him. He grabbed her and pulled her over to the hostages. She was still breathing, but was barely conscious. Bart, Miss Martian and Blue started moving hostages. Michalis laughed.

"You know, she likes you- "

"I'm aware." Robin said. His tone was firm with barely hidden anger. He threw two Bat-A-Rangs at him. Michalis dodged and shook his head.

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant. What I meant was," He dodged a lunge from Beast Boy." She likes you but she thinks you don't like her back, not really." Michalis grabbed Robin's bo staff mid-air and threw it across the room. He grabbed Robin's arm and twisted it behind his back. "She thinks you're pity dating her." A few different emotions flitted across Robin's face, but before he could respond Beast Boy tackled Michalis.

All three went down. Robin looked up at Wonder Girl, who was starting to come to. Michalis growled.

"Let's see what greenie's hiding." He grabbed Beast Boy's tail and held on for a few seconds. Miss Martian ripped Michalis away from him telepathically. Michalis chuckled. "If you knew what he was hiding from you, you might not be so- "He was interrupted by a shock from Static.

"Just shut up man." Static shouted at him. Michalis growled at the teen, before standing up and pointing a gun at Static's head. "Whoa!"

"What the- "

"Mierda!"

"WHEN DID HE GET A GUN!" Bart looked up at the word gun, and saw the man threatening Static. He took off towards the man.

Few more feet Bart. A few more feet and everyone is safe.

Time slowed down the way it always did when Bart ran. He reached out towards Michalis-

Who dodged. The last thing Bart saw was Michalis' arm reaching out.

The he blacked out.

* * *

Jaime watched Bart go limp when Michalis grabbed him. The idea of having someone root around your head was bad enough, but with everything Bart is hiding…

It could end very badly for Bart if the League or Team find out why he was really in the past.

Michalis started laughing. "Yes… YES!"

 **Jaime Reyes. Enemy combatant has the Impulse. Destroy him.**

 _Or we could just staple him to a wall._ The scarab sighed, or gave a weird alien robot bug version of it. Jaime formed the staple and shot at Michalis. The older man slammed into the wall and screamed in pain. Bart fell limply to the floor. Jaime and Miss M flew over to Bart as the others when to get Michalis.

"Bart. Bart!" He shook Bart a bit. Miss M put a hand on his arm.

 **The Impulse is not responding to stimuli and has abnormal brain functions. Diagnosis: Coma.**

"Scarab says it's a coma." He said. Miss Martian pursed her lips.

"His mind is blocked out. I can't find anything happening on the surface."

"Is that good or bad?"

"I'm… I'm not really sure." She sounded worried. Virgil and Cassie walked over to them. "How's Michalis?" Miss Martian asked.

"He seems pretty dazed." Virgil paused for a second. "To be honest he seems, well, he seems like he's high."

"He's high?" Jaime asked. Virgil shrugged and nodded. "How?!"

"Didn't Batgirl say that some secrets were like drugs to him?" Cassie said.

"She said only the worst secrets act like drugs." Robin answered as he and Gar walked over.

"Could a guy like Bart really have secrets that bad?" Cassie asked. Miss Martian seemed to think for a moment.

"Whatever secrets Bart may have, it doesn't change that fact that he's in a coma. We need to get him back to the Watchtower, then we can debate this means." She pressed the com in her ear to contact Batgirl and Kaldur. Jaime picked up Bart and started walking towards the Bio-ship while the other helped the hostages.

"Don't know if I can protect your secrets," He said to Bart as soon as he was away from the others. "But I'll try my best hermano."


	3. Chapter 3

_He feels his lungs burning as he's shoved under the water. The voices above screamed again, but the words are too garbled to make sense of. He thrashes all around, hitting the sides of the small container. He reaches backwards, clawing at the strong arm holding him. He feels lightheaded and everything starts fading into darkness. Suddenly, he's pulled out of the water. He hears his brother screaming and Jenni sobbing. There are words being thrown about, but it they're impossible to understand. He gulps down air, desperately trying to breathe._

 _Then, suddenly, he's shoved under the water again. And the cycle repeats again._

 _And again._

 _And again._

 _And again._

* * *

 _Beep_

 _Beep_

 _Beep_

"Flash." Barry looked up and saw Batman looking at him. "Go home. He'll be fine." Barry looked at his grandson.

"Would you have left him?" He didn't say a name, but Batman knew who he meant. He stiffened and scowled.

"You have a wife. A pregnant wife." Barry sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "We'll let you know if anything changes." Barry nodded. The two men walked towards the elevator, meeting up with Hal and Diana on the way.

"How is he?" Diana asked, her voice soft. Barry looked at the ground, not answering. Batman responded for him

"Still in a coma."

"What did J'onn say?" Hal asked. Barry frowned.

"Apparently, since Bart was forced into the coma by mental manipulation, J'onn, or M'gann, will have to go through his mind and manually 'unravel his memories'." Barry said, with bitterness obvious in his voice. "They're gonna have to go through his personal memories and see all of his secrets without his permission. And, because Bart's mind might be 'dangerous', they're going to take a team of people through his head. So, multiple people are going to completely and utterly violate his privacy."

"Barry- "

"I know! I know! It's 'the only option'!" He crossed his arms. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." He let out a strained laugh. "I used to be considered the 'safest mentor', but I'm gonna lose both my partners in less than a month of one another." Diana opened her mouth to reassure him, but the elevator stopped and dinged.

"This is my stop." Batman said as he pushed past Hal and Diana.

"Mine too." Diana said. She placed a hand on Barry's arm. "Get some rest." She walked out, leaving the two men alone.

"Barry. What's really bugging you?" Barry squeezed his eyes shut.

"Y'know, when Wally was about Bart's age, before Aqualad and the Team and everything, he came up to me one-day crying. He said that Speedy had made fun of him, that it was 'lame' he had never had a 'dangerous bad guy'. That since Wally had powers he should be facing worse villains than him and Robin. And Wally was asking why he never got to face the really bad guys. I said it was because Iris and his mom would skin me alive, which made him laugh and everything was okay. But that wasn't the real reason." He let out a shaky laugh. "I knew Wally. I knew his favorite color, his favorite food, what books he liked better than others. I knew the limits of his powers and I knew what he could and couldn't handle. But in the Arctic, I forgot. I forgot what his limits were and didn't realize what was happening until too late. Wally's death was on me." Hal opened his mouth to respond, but Barry cut him off. "Don't say it wasn't." The elevator stopped. They got out and started walking towards the Zeta tubes.

"The thing is, I don't know Bart. I want to help protect him, but I don't know how. I don't know his limits, I don't know anything about his mom's side of the family, and I don't even know if he's actually 13 or not-I just assumed! If I was going through Wally's head, then I would know at least part of what I'm getting into and what we should avoid. With Bart, I'm going in just as blind as everyone else."

"This kid has been here for 7 months and he never shuts up. You have to know something." Hal joked. Barry give him a pity laugh.

"I really don't. He can talk for hours, but he never seems to say anything revealing. And whenever I try to ask him he always gets distracted." They reached the Zeta tubes. Barry sighed. "I should go let Iris, Jay, and Joan know. See you later, Hal."

"Barry." The blond man turned and looked at him. "I know you don't like it, but this kid might prefer having he knows and trusts in his head." Barry nodded.

"Thanks Hal."

"See you Barry." He watched as the Zeta tube lit up and his friend disappeared. Hal waited a second, before turning and walking back to the elevator.

* * *

Virgil handed Cassie a water bottle as he sat down next to her on the couch. He, Cassie, Jaime, and Gar had been told to relax. According to Black Canary, having all your secrets revealed and watching a friend/teammate be forced into a coma can be 'emotionally draining and stressful', a comment which made Virgil use all his restraint not to roll his eyes. The four of them sat in silence.

"I thought you told M'gann everything?" Jaime asked, breaking the silence. Gar shrugged sheepishly.

"Not everything." He mumbled. Silence fell again. They heard two people walking by and looked up when Robin and La'Gaan entered the room. "Hey." Gar said to them quietly. La'Gaan nodded at him as he sat down in an armchair.

"Hi," Robin said. "So, I talked to Batman and he says that a small team will be sent with either M'gann or J'onn to help get Bart out of his coma. He wants to know if any of us are willing, since we are closer to Bart than the League or the older members." Jaime looked up, alarmed.

"Wait, we're going through his head? Through all his memories and secrets?" Robin nodded.

"Yeah. I'm not exactly happy about it myself."

"At least it'll get him out of the coma." La'Gaan added. Jaime bit his lip.

"I don't think… that we should." He said carefully. Everyone turned to look at him.

"You want to leave him in a coma!" La'Gaan exclaimed. "I thought you two were friends!"

"We are!" Jaime responded. "But Bart also has secrets that he really, really doesn't want people to know. How would you feel if a bunch of people you've only known for a few months suddenly knew everything about your life?"

"It's not a fun experience." Cassie interjected, look guiltily at Robin. Gar nodded.

"Yeah."

"Well I'd rather not be in a coma!" La'Gaan yelled back.

"Honestly I'd rather let people in to my head than be in a coma." Virgil said. He knew Bart had a few secrets that he didn't want people to know-everybody did-and while he didn't know the kid as well as Jaime, he was pretty sure Bart didn't want to stay in a coma forever.

"Well, I'm glad you two got to decide that before you fell into a coma, but Bart hasn't, so I don't think we should."

"Bart may not have decided for himself," Robin added. "But the Flash did. A team is going through Bart's head, whether we like it or not. If you don't want to come Jaime, then you don't have to, but somebody is going." He crossed his arms, signaling that the argument was over. Jaime frowned.

"You know," Gar piped up. "M'gann says that a lot of times when J'onn goes through people's head to get them out of comas, he ends up finding an easy shortcut that takes him around the memories and directly to the problem, so maybe something like that will happen."

"Fine." Jaime acquiesced. "I'm going as damage control, though." He stood up and walked away, grumbling under his breath. Robin pursed his lips.

"Well that's one at least. Anybody else?" Robin sighed.

"Who's going?" Cassie asked.

"J'onn or M'gann (they haven't decided who yet), the Flash, Jaime, and I."

"You're going?" Gar asked.

"Batman wants to make sure nothing bad happens and since we don't know how dangerous Bart's mind is, he wants to be careful." He paused. "I'm also really curious to see what kind of experiences Bart went through that made him so… Bart-like." Cassie laughed at that.

"I'll go." Virgil said.

"Me too." Added Cassie.

"Why not." La'Gaan shrugged.

"I want to see how old me is doing." Gar said. They all chuckled a little bit at that. Gar's phone beeped. He checked it and his eyes widened. "I've got to go. Bye!" He rushed out of the room. Suddenly the room was quiet again. Robin and Cassie carefully avoided looking at each other. La'Gaan looked at Virgil and motioned at the door. Virgil nodded and got up.

"Where are you guys going?" Cassie asked hurriedly.

"Walk around."

"Training."

Both stopped and looked at each other.

"We're gonna walk around…" Virgil trailed off.

"…To the training room and start training." La'Gaan finished. They both started towards the door. La'Gaan slowed down slightly as he neared Robin. "Talk to her." He whispered as he passed.

Robin and Cassie waited in silence for a few seconds. Eventually, Cassie opened to her mouth to make an excuse and leave.

"Can we talk?" Robin asked, before she could speak. "About the mission." He added. Cassie bit her lip, then nodded.

"Sure."

* * *

Artemis sipped her drink as she absorbed Batgirl's message. Kaldur sat across the table from her, poking at his lunch. Conner scowled into his coffee and Mal pinched the bridge of his nose.

All she had wanted was to get lunch with some friends before patrol. Then, Batgirl showed up and told them that Bart was in coma and they were going to have to go through his mind.

"This is not what I wanted to deal with today." She groaned, pushing her hair out of her face.

"You might not have to go if enough of the younger kids sign up." Mal responded. He sounded tired, almost defeated. Artemis could understand; this year had been hard for everyone.

"Kids are nosy. They'll sign up." They looked up as Karen walked over and sat down.

"Does everybody know about this?" Conner asked. Karen nodded.

"Yeah. Once somebody heard that the second Kid Flash was in critical condition only a month after Wally died, they didn't exactly keep quiet." Karen nodded at Artemis and took a bite of her meal. Kaldur placed his hand over Artemis' at the mention of Wally. "Besides, I heard them talking about it as I walked over." She pointed to the table where Robin and Cassie were sitting. Artemis stared at the young couple for a few seconds. Both Robin and Cassie looked up to say something, but turned away and laughed when realizing the other was about to talk.

"Ah, the awkwardness of young love." Kaldur said, voicing her thoughts exactly.

"Were we ever that young?" She asked.

"I wasn't." Conner said. Kaldur and Mal chuckled in to their drinks at that. Artemis smiled.

"Are any you joining?" Kaldur asked, finally getting to the elephant in the room.

"No," Said Conner. "I don't even think we should be going through his head."

"You'd rather leave him in a coma?" Kaldur countered.

"No, but I'd rather not invade his privacy. There has to be another way."

"And if there isn't?"

"There probably is. We just aren't looking for it."

"You seem pretty against the whole idea." Mal remarked. Conner crossed his arms.

"I had someone go through my head without permission, and I wasn't very happy about it. Of course, I'm against this." Kaldur raised an eyebrow and sipped his drink.

"I've also had someone go through my head, in case you've forgotten, and they did worse to me than to you. The only way to fix the damage was to go back in and fix the problem at its source." Kaldur said calmly. "So far, that seems to be our only option with Bart as well." Conner stood up.

"I don't like it and I'm not going." He walked away. Artemis looked at Karen and Mal.

"What about you guys?" She asked.

"We don't really him that well." Karen answered. She started gathering up her finished meal.

"It'd just be invasive and make things awkward." Mal added, standing up to help her. The couple gave their goodbyes and walked away. She and Kaldur sat silently for a few seconds.

"Are you going to join?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know." She said. "I don't want to invade Bart's privacy, but at the same time…"

"There's something off about him?" He finished. Artemis nodded. The two of them had grown closer after the undercover mission and now seemed to have an uncanny understanding of each other's thoughts. "I understand. Unlike most members of the team, he technically didn't exist until February- "

"Which means he doesn't have a physical past or any previous records to research, which must have drove Batman crazy. And since he's never betrayed the team or had an incident before- "

"There was no reason to go through his memories. Meaning we know almost nothing about him and have to rely only on what he tells us."

"Which could be heavily altered or edited in his favor." Artemis sighed. "I know I shouldn't go, but… He's one of the only links I still have with Wally. I… I need to know something that connects the two of them outside of just blood and the suit. There has to something. Anything." She put her head in her hands. It was stupid. It was such a bad, stupid reason and she shouldn't even be considering it, but she just can't stop herself. Kaldur placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If it makes you feel any better, I am going as well." Artemis looked up at him. "My reasons are slightly more team-oriented than yours, but that does not make me any less guilty. However, if you come you may use my reason as an excuse." She nodded. Her phone buzzed. She checked the screen and realized she was late.

"Fuck, I'm late for patrol! Tell Batgirl to put me down, okay?" Kaldur nodded and she rushed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

"This is the final roster?" Batman asked as Batgirl handed the list. She nodded.

"Me and Robin asked everybody on the Team. And double checked." He looked over the list.

"This should work. Most of them have summer off, so we won't be on too big of a time crunch. When can we start?"

"Most wanted to wait a few days to rest up and prepare themselves. But, they can make tomorrow afternoon if need be." Batman made a disapproving noise. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Possibly. Manhunter and I are both very busy tomorrow and for the next week. I wouldn't be able to oversee it and Miss Martian may have to take the lead instead." Batgirl made a face.

"Yeah, she's still nervous about her powers so that could be an issue. The oversight part can be handled me or another League member, though."

"I suppose. Can you convince Miss Martian to do it by tomorrow? I don't want to leave Kid Flash in a coma any longer than necessary."

"With some help from Artemis, maybe." Batgirl shrugged. "She still might say no though."

"Try your best. If not, I work out something with J'onn." He handed back the list. Batgirl accepted it and turned to walk out the room. "Batgirl?" She stopped and looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"If I am not able to make tomorrow, can you give them a message for me?" She nodded. "If they see anything that could negatively affect the Team or League anytime soon, they are to report to me." She nodded once more, slowly. "Good." Batgirl turned and walked out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

M'gann stared resolutely at the wall, her jaw tightly clenched. Batgirl pinched the bridge of her nose and Artemis threw her head and groaned. They were getting no where with the Martian, and the mission was supposed to start in a few hours.

"M'gann." Batgirl said.

"No." She said calmly, not looking either in the eye.

"M'gann, you're the only one who can do this." Artemis pleaded.

"No."

"So, you want to leave him in a coma?" Batgirl countered.

"No!" M'gann turned to look at her, incredulous.

"Then help him!" Artemis cried.

"I can't!" M'gann turned and stormed out of the room. Artemis followed her, glaring at her friend.

"You can help him." She yelled. "I know you can! I saw you do it with Kaldur, and I know you can do it with Bart!"

"Kaldur was different!" M'gann yelled back. "I knew how bad Kaldur's damage was! I knew how to fix it because it was my mistake! But you're asking me to fix someone else's damage! Someone whose powers we don't fully understand! For all we know, I could make it worse, or kill him!" Artemis huffed.

"J'onn said you knew how to do this." M'gann crossed her arms shrugged.

"I mean, I've watched people do it a few times, and I've been a part of it a few times, but I've never done it on my own." She flexed her fingers and stared at the floor. Artemis sighed and placed her hands on M'gann's shoulders. The Martian looked up at her.

"Look. We are talking about a thirteen-year-old kid. He is trapped inside his own head, and probably terrified. You think I'm not terrified that we're gonna completely and utterly screw up his head? Believe me, I am! But we're his only hope, and somebody has to do something!" Artemis paused and took a shaky breath. "We have to do something."

M'gann nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll do it." She put her hand on Artemis' shoulder, trying to calm her friend. "Let's go tell Batgirl." As the two girls walked back towards their friend, M'gann tried not to think too much about Artemis' freak out, or the reasons behind it.

* * *

Cassie fiddled with her hair as the last of the group showed up. Artemis, Kaldur, M'gann, Flash, and Batgirl were going over final preparations. Gar and Robin were looking at something on Gar's phone, and La'gaan stood off to the side, trying to look busy. Jaime stood next to Bart, and was talking… to himself, or… maybe Bart? Cassie shook her head and ignored it. She turned to see Virgil walking towards her.

"Hey." He said. He side-eyed Jaime. "Is he- "

"Just ignore it. We all do at this point." He opened his mouth, then closed it.

"I-Sure. Why not." He then muttered something under his breath. "Whatever. So, how are you and Robin?"

"We're," She paused and thought. They had talked about what Michalis said, but things were still slightly awkward, and Robin, who had never been fully sure of what to do in a relationship, seemed even more unsure of himself. "Fine." She finished. Virgil nodded and rubbed his arm. "So, what's new with you?" She said, trying to move on.

"Not much." He shrugged. "A friend of mine got a date recently."

"Oh, good for them."

"Yeah, he's pretty excited." Cassie nodded and smiled.

"Team." Kaldur said. They all turned to look at him. "This mission will be unlike any we have done before. We are going through the mind and memories of one of our own; we will see what he has seen and feel what he has felt. And we will know all his secrets; secrets we cannot tell anyone, so if you cannot keep these secrets," He looked at the people around him. "Then you should leave, before you are in too deep to turn back." Cassie turned to look at her teammates. They all looked around, watching to see who would leave. No one made a move. Kaldur nodded and looked at M'gann. "We are ready."

"Everyone lay down on a bed. Once you're on it, Batgirl will attach wires to your head so she can monitor your brain activity during the mission and pull you out if your activity becomes concerning." M'gann instructed. Cassie sat down on the bed next to Robin. La'gaan hopped up on the other side of her. Batgirl walked up to Flash and placed a few electrodes on his head then connected the wires to a monitor.

"Batman has asked me to give you a message." She said, walking to the next person. "I know that Kaldur just said you have to keep Bart's secrets, and I agree, but Batman has asked that if you see anything that could endanger the Team or League you should tell him." She continued applying electrodes to the rest of the group. She looked at M'gann and nodded. M'gann took a deep breath and motioned for everyone to lay down.

"Close your eyes." Cassie squeezed her eyes shut. "Take 4 deep breaths as I count, then open your eyes." Cassie took a breath. "One. Two. Three. Four." Cassie opened her eyes.

"Whoa." She whispered.

* * *

 _Bart watched as his dad convulsed on the table; screaming in pain and covered in blood. Artur and his uncle held him down as his aunt tried to remove the bullets, her hands shaking. His mom yelled at him, screamed at him to go, leave, get out, you don't need to see this Bart!_

 _Bart tried to breathe, to move, to something other than stand there, but his legs locked and lungs seemed to freeze. Finally, his brother grabbed his arm and pulled him away._

 _Bart heard his mom start sobbing. He began to hyperventilate._

 _"Stop it!" He yelled. He knows how this memory ends. His dad will survive this, he knows that. But, it doesn't make the memory any less terrifying. "Make it stop! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"_

 _Aunt Dawn screamed out the word YES and started laughing, and Bart shuddered in relief. He slumped against a wall, gulping down air. He laughed as the tears ran down his face._

 _Suddenly, the memory reset and he was sitting at the table with his brother, waiting for his parents._

 _"No. Not again. Please not again!" He heard the door slam open and people began yelling. "No, no, no, no, nononononononono- "_

* * *

Tim stared at the grey landscape, trying to figure out why it was familiar. Objectively, he knew that the probability or him knowing the area was near zero. Bart was from the future, could travel across the world in a second, and this area wasn't even technically real—it was a mental projection based on Bart's life, personality, and experiences created by M'gann and Bart's subconscious to help the rest of them quantify his mind. But something about it was… strangely familiar.

"This is Bart's mind?" He hears a voice behind him, and turns to see Garfield and the others staring at the dark grey sky and ash covered rubble. The expressions on their face range from total confusion to extreme concern.

"A person's mind doesn't always look how you think it should." M'gann reminded her brother. "People hide pieces of themselves, so sometimes they are…" She paused, looking over the landscape again. "Darker than they appear. Anyway, we need to find direct access to Bart's memories. We need to look around for a landmark, or monument, or something that seems more important than the rest of the area. It'll go faster if we split up. La'gaan and Kaldur, you'll be a pair. Robin and Garfield; Cassie and Virgil; Artemis and Flash; and Jaime can come with me."

They started to separate, going in different directions, when M'gann stopped. "Wait! Keep an eye out for any 'people'." She put air quotes around the word. "They're creations by Bart's subconscious to protect him from an attack on his mind. Bart doesn't seem to have much mental discipline so his probably won't be very strong, but they're still dangerous to us." Tim noticed a strange look on Jaime's face as M'gann explained, and reminded himself to ask about it later. They all nodded and watched as she and Jaime flew upwards to get an aerial view. Kaldur and La'gaan went to check out what appeared to be a coastline in the distance, while Artemis and the Flash headed out into the open area, away from the rubble. Tim turned towards Cassie and Virgil.

"What if me and Gar take one side of the rubble, and you and Virgil take the other?" He said. "It's a pretty big area, and we can meet in the middle later to go find the others." Cassie and Virgil looked at one another.

"I'm fine with that."

"Sounds good to me." Tim and Gar started walking away, giving quick good byes to their friends. They walked quietly around the ruins of buildings and over cracked sidewalks. Gar would chime in with a comment or joke every couple of minutes, but Tim didn't really respond. He couldn't shake the feeling he had been here before. Walking down this street, by these buildings, even the fact that Gar was there felt familiar. Suddenly Gar snapped his hand in front of Tim's face.

"Dude. You're completely out of it right now. What's going on?" He asked. Tim looked around then looked back at his friend.

"Does something about this place feel… familiar to you?" Gar raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Not really. Why?"

"I don't know. I feel like been here before or something." Gar looked at him.

"You realize we're in Bart's head, right? This place doesn't actually exist." Tim sighed.

"Yes Gar, I'm aware of that." He snapped. "But it still feels like I know this place."

"Maybe it seems familiar because… we know Bart so well?" Gar suggested, with a weak shrug. Tim looked around at the destroyed buildings and ash covered streets.

"Do we?"

Gar opened his mouth to answer, when they heard the fluttering of Jaime's bugwings. They looked up and saw M'gann and Jaime flying down towards them.

"What happened?" Tim asked.

"The smog was too thick. We couldn't see anything no matter how high we went." M'gann sighed, sounding frustrated.

"Well, I did see a large, dark object over there." Jaime vaguely motioned to the left of them. "But I couldn't see much of it."

"Seems as good a plan as any. Should we bring everybody in?" Tim asked.

"I call in Flash, Artemis, Virgil, and Cassie. La'gaan and Kaldur can meet us closer to the," She motioned vaguely. "The thing." They nodded and M'gann sent out the message. Flash and Artemis appeared a few seconds later.

"Sorry guys, my powers are a little weird in here." He blurted out, anxiously rubbing his hands together. "But you found something, right?" Cassie and Virgil sprinted up to them as fast as possible.

"You... got… something?" Virgil asked, between deep breaths.

"There's a large dark object over there, and we think it's the access point for his memories." M'gann quickly explained. "Kaldur and La'gaan plan to meet us on the beach near the object, so we're heading that direction." She pointed to the side of the object. Garfield shifted and flew away, Flash picked up Artemis and took off, Cassie grabbed Tim and flew away, and Jaime grabbed Virgil.

"You know I can hover, right?"

"We're on a time limit and I don't see any big pieces of metal around here. Just go with it, hermano." They reached the beach a little while later, and found La'gaan and Kaldur waiting for them. Tim looked around, feeling the same Déjà vu he had felt in the rubble. He scanned the area, trying to find something familiar.

"Robin." Tim turned to see Kaldur looking at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, this place just feels weirdly familiar." He said. A look of surprise crossed over Kaldur's face. Tim prepared himself to explain, but Kaldur interrupted him.

"You recognize this area as well?"

"Well, I don't fully recognize it, but I am getting a strong feeling of Déjà vu." Tim explained. La'gaan gave them both a strange look.

"This place has been almost completely destroyed. How can you recognize anything?" He asked.

"Actually, I'm starting to feel Déjà vu, too." M'gann added, sounding nervous and confused. Jaime turned to her.

"You didn't say anything while flying."

"I didn't feel it up there, but the beach reminds me of…" She trailed off. "I don't know. A place." She added with a shake off her head.

"Yeah. I'm starting to get the same feeling." Gar said. "But I've never been anywhere this destroyed. And definitely not with Robin, M'gann, or Kaldur." The rest of the group began chiming in opinions or guesses, but Tim ignored them. He stared at the dark object, feeling a weird mixture of sadness and confusion about why he was sad. He tilted his head and walked closer to the water, trying to find a better angle. He reached the edge of the water, and noticed that the object had sloping sides and seemed to have a large piece missing. He tried to picture what it would look like if the hole was filled in.

"It looks almost like a mountain." He mutters to himself. "But mountains come in ranges typically, and what kind of mountain has a piece… Missing." He looks at the water. " A single mountain, by a city, by the water, with a chunk of it missing!" He said, slowly raising his voice as he realized where they were. He took off sprinting towards the object.

"ROBIN!" One of his teammates yelled in the distance, but he ignored them. He kept going until he reached the base of the mountain. He slowed to a stopped, his feet skidding in the sand-ash mixture. Tim looked at it in shocked silence, not turning to see the approaching footsteps. He heard a few soft gasps.

"Is that-?"

"Mount Justice." Tim answered.

"Mount what?" Virgil asked.

"Mount Justice. It was the Team's original base of operations. Garfield and M'gann used to live there before it was blown up." Kaldur explained. "Artemis and I spent a lot of time there over the years." He neglected mention that they were the the ones who blew it up, for obvious reasons.

"Why is Bart's mind using Mount Justice? He was only there for a month before it blew up." Cassie asked.

"I think a better question is why is Happy Harbor," M'gann pointed at the rubble behind them. "Completely destroyed?!" She finished, sounding scared and angry.

"M'gann, calm down." Artemis assured her. "We'll find out later. Right now, we need to find out if this is the access to Bart's memories." M'gann nodded and walked up to the mountain. She placed a hand on it and her eyes began to glow.

"We're here." She said, after a few seconds.

"We made it! Isn't that good?" Gar yelled happily. Suddenly, an arrow flew down and imbedded itself in the ground right in front of Gar. Tim slowly looked up in the mountain, and saw a person perched on the side of the mountain. They had on a red and black suit with a mask and hood, and was holding a red bow. They pulled out another arrow and cocked it for fire.

"Oh shit!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Scatter!" They all dove opposite directions, trying to find cover. Artemis scrambled behind some debris. Kaldur and Flash followed.

"How do we stop him?" Flash asked.

"Can you get control of the water from here?" Artemis asked. They heard a small explosion to the left. Kaldur nodded, grabbing his water bearers. He began to move the water. Artemis looked over the debris to check on the others. The figure had moved slightly further down the mountain and was shooting at a different piece of debris, which Artemis assumed hid some of her teammates. She loaded an arrow into her crossbow and fired at the figure. She ducked back down and turned to Kaldur. He was trying to pull the water towards him but it was slow and seemed reluctant to reach him. Kaldur muttered an Atlantean curse under his breath.

"Why isn't it working?" She whispered harshly. Flash looked at her.

"Maybe our powers work weirdly in here. Remember how it took me a second to get up to my normal speed." He said. Kaldur shook his head.

"This is not my powers. The water is fighting me." He said, gritting his teeth.

"What do you mean 'fighting you?'" Artemis asked. "It's water!"

"Usually, it means someone else is controlling the water." Flash and Artemis' eyes widened, realizing what he meant.

 _M'gann. We think there's another one. Kaldur says someone is controlling the water._ Artemis informed the group. She checked over the edge again, seeing a shifted Beast Boy trying to attack the archer. She hopped over, seeing a chance to attack.

 _Oh god. A third one?_ Cassie complained.

 _Third one? Who's the second?_ Flash asked, running slightly behind Artemis due to his misbehaving powers.

 _Someone on another side of the mountain starting shooting energy blasts at us. We think there might actually be a few more, but they haven't attacked yet._ Artemis sighed at the new information, while grabbing a bola at the same time. She threw it at the archer, who moved to the side, letting Beast Boy get ensnared instead. She grabbed another weapon as Flash helped Beast Boy.

Suddenly, something exploded behind Artemis, throwing her forward. Something landed near her, and she turned her head to see Kaldur laying in the sand. Artemis looked around, trying to regain her bearings.

"What happened?" She asked, standing up.

"Someone must have seen me and fired the explosive." He grunted. She helped him up.

"Please tell me you're doing that." She said, motioning to the water. He looked at the water and shook his head. He grabbed his water bearers, trying to control it again. Artemis turned back to the area of the explosion. A figure appeared in the smoke. She pulled out her sword, turning to fully face the figure. A man stepped out of the smoke. He was wearing a Batman cowl with red eyes, and had a long, ragged cape around him.

Artemis stared at him in shock, slightly lowering her sword. She opened her mouth to say something to him, but he pulled a katana out from under his cape. He got into a fighting stance, clearly challenging her. She swallowed and readied her sword, hoping that this Batman did not have the same fighting skills as the one she knew.

* * *

La'Gaan had been helping Cassie look for the second person attacking them when something wrapped around his ankle. It pulled his feet out from under him and dragged him across the beach, then dropped him next to Kaldur. Kaldur turned to look at him.

"Are you alright?" He asked, helping La'Gaan up.

"Yeah. What happened?" He asked, standing up.

"The water grabbed you. Whoever is controlling it is getting bolder." La'Gaan opened his mouth to ask a question when something moved out of the corner of his eye. They both turned to see a man walking in the water. He was tall and blond, with a broad chest and grizzled beard. He looked _extremely_ similar to King Orin. La'Gaan turned to Kaldur.

"Is that Aquaman?" He asked, sounding worried. Kaldur looked concerned.

"I do not know. It looks like him, but-" The man raised his arms. His eyes began to glow and tattoos began to appear on his arms. The tattoos were similar to Queen Mera's. The water started to respond to his magic. "Our King cannot do that." The two Atlanteans started to move away from the shore. The water kept raising higher and higher, until it was towering over the beach. It held still for a single second, then it shot out at them.

* * *

When Barry has signed up for this mission, he had thought it would relatively simple. Go through Bart's memories, wake him up, get pizza.

Okay, so he may have added the last part, but his point still stands. Everyone had made it sound so easy when they were discussing it. And while he may have fought it at first, that was because he thought it was invasive, not because he thought it would be hard.

But here he was, fighting imaginary people inside his time-traveling grandson's head with a bunch of teenagers.

"God, when did my life get so weird." He muttered, still detangling Beast Boy from the bola. Beast Boy looked at him strangely, but didn't say anything, so Flash pretended he didn't see it. He yanked at the rope again, finally detangling it. Beast Boy scrambled to get up, kicking sand at the Barry, and took off running towards his friends. Barry spit out the sand and rubbed it off his face, standing up to check out the fight.

Normally, Barry's brain worked faster than everyone else's, meaning that he could watch the battlefield and evaluate it in less than a few seconds, but inside Bart's mind, his powers were weird. He still ran fast, but he reacted and thought as fast as everyone around him. He theorized that Bart's mind had automatically accounted for the speed difference between him and the people in his head by increasing everyone's reaction times, making his (and Barry's) speed 'normal.' But there was no way of really knowing, so he pushed the thought away.

He scanned the area around him, feeling more confused than ever. The archer seemed to be holding their own against the teenagers. Aqualad and Lagoon Boy were fighting some man who was controlling the water, and Wonder Girl seemed to be trying to help them, with not much success. And Artemis was fighting… _Batman?_ Yeah, he thought to himself, it was Batman, or at least someone very similar to him. Artemis was fighting a Batman look-a-like.

"What the fuck?" He muttered softly. Barry shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He rechecked the fight. Artemis was handling herself fine. The Atlanteans were struggling, but Cassie was helping them. Miss Martian was… nowhere to be found, and the younger kids were pretty evenly matched with the archer.

He decided that he was probably most useful to the kids, then once that was handled, he could body slam into almost-Batman at full speed to help Artemis. That's when someone slammed into him.

He went flying across the beach, kicking up sand everywhere when he hit the ground. He groaned and curled up. Everything hurt, but his back had taken the worst of the hit. Something moved past him, faster than he could see. He pushed himself up, blinking as his eyes refocused. Two people were standing above him.

One was a man and the other was a woman. They both had reddish blond hair and pale skin. The man was tall and broad. The woman was smaller than the man, but still very tall. And they had superspeed.

Barry pulled himself to his feet, clutching one of his sides. God, was this how people felt when he hit them? Jesus, no wonder everybody wants him dead! He shook his head again and looked up at the two speedsters. He made eye contact and jerked back, falling to the ground again.

Because their eyes were _green._ A familiar green. A very familiar green. A green that Barry knew inside and out, because he had _married_ that green. That green was West family green. These people were strawberry blond speedsters, with West green eyes.

"What the fuck?" He muttered again.

* * *

Beast Boy launched himself at the archer, growling. The archer fired back at him. He dodged and slashed. The archer flipped out of the way, firing an arrow at Robin. Virgil knocked it out of the air with a blast of lightning. The archer pulled a throwing knife seemingly out of nowhere and threw it at Virgil, who ducked to avoid it.

"Where does he keep getting all these weapons? He's like a goddamn _Bat_ with a bow!" Virgil muttered. Beast Boy attacked again but got knocked down by an energy blast. Robin and Virgil ignored it and kept fighting. The blasts had been coming down from the side of the mountain for a couple of minutes, and while they hurt like hell, they didn't seem to do any permanent damage. Jaime had flown up to the mountain, trying to find a way to stop the blasts, but they hadn't heard anything from him nor did the blasts stop, so they didn't have much hope.

Robin and Virgil started circling the archer, trying to find a blind spot. Virgil shot out lightning at the same time Robin attacked his legs. They managed to get the archer down on their knees, and twisted their arm, making them drop their bow. Virgil kicked the bow a little to the side. Robin held his bo staff in front of the archer's face, electricity crackling off the end. The archer slowly raised the hands, surrendering. Garfield walked up to the archer and yanked off the hood, revealing long red hair pulled into a ponytail and a feminine face.

"Oh." Virgil said. Robin side-eyed him.

"What?" He asked.

"I thought she was a guy, at first." He said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Seriously?" Robin asked, his tone dripping with judgement. "That's what you're focusing on?"

"To be honest, I thought she was a dude too, so he's not alone." Garfield added with a quick shrug. Robin moved his head like he was rolling his eyes, but the mask made it impossible to tell.

"Can we please focus on what's actually important here? This was only the first part. We still need to get to Bart's memories, and figure out how to help him, and frankly, Gar, where is your sister because I have not seen her since the fight started." He sounded frustrated. Garfield blushed and shrugged, obviously a little embarrassed by M'gann just disappearing on them. When the archer first came down, they had seen her fly upwards, saying something about finding an access point. They hadn't seen her since. Robin sighed. "How is the rest of the team doing?" Virgil turned to look.

La'Gaan was doing fine against his opponent, but Kaldur was still being attacked by the water, which seemed a little ironic to Virgil, but he didn't have time to focus on it. Artemis was sword fighting some guy in black, who looked a little like Batman, but Virgil wasn't going to be the one to tell Robin that. The Flash seemed to be fighting some blurs at super speed, and it looked like Cassie was trying to help him but didn't know which blur she should be hitting.

"They're doing… _okay_. But, they could use help." He said. He quickly explained the fights happening around them. Robin nodded.

"Virgil, help Artemis. Gar, help La'Gaan. I'll use some knock out gas on the archer then go help Cassie." He said.

"Wait, why am I helping Artemis and not fighting the superpowered people?"

"Because La'Gaan and Kaldur are fighting in the water, and while Kaldur might be electricity-proof, La'Gaan is not. And electricity does not affect speedsters the way it does normal people." Robin explained. While explaining, he lowered his bo staff a little without realizing it. The archer saw her opening and took it.

She grabbed her bow and swung it up, smacking Robin across the face with it. She twisted and stood up, using her leg to knock Virgil on his back and pulling an arrow out of her quiver. She nocked it and pulled the bow string back while pointing the tip of the arrow at Gar's face. He froze.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice low and threatening.

"Uh, we're-" He started, but was interrupted by a loud, jarring explosion. Gar squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of the explosion and feeling of his teeth vibrating inside his head. After a second, he tried to open his eyes. He saw that the archer was vibrating at the edges and was slightly see-through.

Robin groaned, pulling himself up on his knees. He glanced around, checking on the team. They were all in similar states. M'gann called through the mind link.

 _Sorry guys, that was me. But, in good news, I unlocked Bart's memories. The access point is at the top of the mountain, so you all need to get up here._

Gar stumbled over to Robin and helped him up. Virgil had his face pressed into the sand and was muttering a variety of curses. Robin and Gar grabbed on to him, pulling him to his feet. The three of them staggered up the side of the mountain, clutching onto one another.

By the time they were half way up, they were each walking on their own, but were still leaning on each other occasionally. They kept going until they reached a small outcropping. Gar fell on his knees, and faceplanted.

"I'm done. Leave me here to die." He said into the rock. Robin sat down.

"We can rest for a second." Virgil laid down on the other side of Gar, not saying anything. They laid there in silence for a few seconds, then Robin stood up. "Come on, guys. We have to go." The other two both groaned in unison.

" _Hey guys_." Robin stiffened at the sound of Jaime's voice. He turned to see his friend being held at gunpoint by another person. The had on a dark gray tactical suit with a hood and the lower half of their face was covered, leaving their eyes exposed. The gun they were holding was black with glowing blue lines and seemed to be futuristic in design. "So, I found the person shooting at us." Jaime said, clearly trying to remain calm. Robin looked at his teammates out of the side of his eye. Virgil was on his hands and knees. Gar was leaning against the mountain, but at least he was up. Robin focused back on the person holding Jaime hostage, and realized that the gun was now pointed at him.

"Listen," He started talking to the person, hoping it might help. He knew it was only mental construct of Bart's mind, but he didn't have many options. "I know you're just trying to protect Bart. We're trying to help him, but we can't help him unless we get to top. Just let us up." He said. "Please." He added afterwards.

The person stared at him, watching him intently. The person's eyes flicked to the beach. They watched the others for a second, then looked back at Robin. Their eyes softened for a moment, appearing almost pleading to Robin. They dropped Jaime and walked down the mountain without saying a word.

Robin sighed, feeling his shoulders relax as the person disappeared. Jaime pulled Virgil to his feet, and they made the rest of the way up the mountain. They reached the top of the mountain a few minutes later. M'gann, Cassie, and Flash were already there. Cassie was half-sitting half-leaning on a crumbling rock but looked okay overall. Flash, on the other hand, looked like he had been hit by a bus and was laying on the ground. The boys made their way over to the other three. Robin walked over and sat next to Cassie on the rock. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Gar sat near his sister and looked at Flash.

"You look awful." Gar said.

"There were other speedsters." Flash muttered, as if that explained everything.

"Where's Artemis and the rest?" Jaime asked. Cassie shrugged.

"Kaldur wanted to wait for Artemis. La'Gaan decided to go with him instead of me." She answered. Jaime opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a cursing La'Gaan pulling himself up over the edge. Artemis and Kaldur followed close behind. M'gann motioned for everyone to stand up.

"Where is the access point?" Kaldur asked as he got closer.

"Right here." She motioned to the area in front of her. "To be honest, I'm not sure why this is the access point. Normally it's a place that matters a lot to the person." Gar walked up the area and looked around.

"Robin, isn't this about where Bart's time machine first appeared." He asked. Robin looked at the mountain, doing some quick calculations in his head. He turned back to Gar and nodded. "Hmm. Noted." Gar chirped as he looked at his sister.

"Are we ready for this? This is the last chance for anyone to leave quickly." She said.

"We can't leave?" Cassie asked.

"Well, we can, but it will be a lot more difficult and will involve waking everyone up also. And we aren't staying in here the whole time either because that would take way too long. Batgirl has been instructed to lightly shock me when the rest of you need to leave, that way I can let everybody out. But, yeah, if you really don't want to do this, then say so now." No one said anything. M'gann nodded. "Okay." She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She raised her hands slightly, holding them near the access point. The team formed a circle with her. She opened her now glowing eyes, and the access point began to glow. The light got brighter and brighter until they couldn't look at it.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to fall out from under their feet. Within a second, it was back, but it wasn't the uneven terrain of the mountain anymore. Now, it was even and carpeted. Robin opened his eyes and looked around, seeing scattered furniture and plain walls. The rest of the team was looking around as well.

"Welcome to Bart's earliest memory." M'gann said.


	6. Chapter 6

"Welcome to Bart's earliest memory." M'gann said. They looked around, getting a better look at the room. It was about the size of a large living room. There were multiple threadbare couches pushed to the edge of the room and cots scattered across the floor. A few shelves were placed in between couches, and they were filled with papers, documents, and a few worn down books. The windows were boarded up and small bags and boxes laid at the end of and beneath the cots. The room also had two very large openings into other rooms, one of which had a large table covered in papers. The other had a small kitchen area.

"This isn't very child friendly." Flash said. "And I should know. I've spent months child proofing my house."

"How old is Bart during this memory?" Kaldur asked.

"He's a baby actually." M'gann answered. They all turned to stare at her.

"You can't remember when you were a baby." Virgil said.

"You can't recall memories of being a baby. They are there. They may be blurry or damaged, but the memories are there. Humans just aren't able to recall them on their own." She explained.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Robin asked, gently touching the documents on the table.

"I have 'paused' the memory that way you could all acclimate to the setting of the memory. I've also removed all of the people for the same reason. Once the memory starts, they will reappear."

"You can stop the memories?" Jaime asked.

"For short periods yes. But I'm only going to do it if things get too intense or if we need a break. Otherwise, it's just wasting time." She said. "If you're ready, I can start the memory now." They all nodded.

Suddenly multiple people appeared. A couple of men and women were moving things around rooms. A dark-haired man and red headed woman were sitting at the table, clearly arguing over something. One man was making something in the kitchen, while someone else sat at the kitchen table cleaning knives and futuristic looking guns. Some kids were sitting in a circle in the corner, playing some hand clapping game. Everyone was wearing worn down clothes, and most of the adults looked like they hadn't slept in weeks.

The Team heard the sounds of a baby fussing. They turned around to see a young woman lying on a couch two babies, one brunette and one blond, resting on her chest. The woman was in her late twenties and had brown hair and golden eyes. The blond baby was kicking and grumbling. The woman groaned.

"Thaddeus, please. Mommy is tired." She murmured, rubbing the baby's back.

"He's probably still mad you named him Thaddeus." Another voice said. The Team turned to see a blond man walking up to her, carrying a plate with a sandwich on it. He was also late twenties and, strangely, had on a thinner, lighter version of the inhibitor collars. Artemis leaned over the Flash.

"He looks like you." She muttered.

"Yeah, I know." Flash said. "It's a little freaky."

The blond man set the sandwich on the arm of the couch and carefully picked up the blond baby. He held the baby to his chest and turned to look behind him.

"Artur!" He said. Another blond man sat up from where he was napping on a different couch. He was a few years older than the other two, had a grizzled beard, and looked a little like Aquaman.

"I'm up. I swear." He said. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm awake. What time is it?" He asked, looking at the other man.

"Meloni needs a break. Come hold my kid for a couple of minutes." The first man said. Artur perked up.

"Ooh, baby." He said quietly, standing up. He walked over the woman, Meloni, who handed him the brunette baby. "Hi little guy." He said to the baby. Meloni sat up and grabbed the plate with the sandwich. The first man carefully sat down on the floor near the couch. Artur stayed standing. "Hey, what's his name again?" Artur asked.

"Bartholomew Henry Allen II." Meloni said in between bites of sandwich. Artur scoffed.

"Seriously, Donald? You let her name them 'Bartholomew' and 'Thaddeus'?" He said to the other man. Meloni flipped him off. He laughed and flipped her off the best he could while holding the baby. The other man sighed.

"First of all, my name is Don, not Donald. Second of all, Bartholomew was my dad's name. Third of all, they're gonna get nicknames eventually, _Artie."_ Artur scoffed. "Also, please don't flip off my wife in front of my kids."

"Yeah, yeah. No swearing, no flipping the bird, no inappropriate behavior in front of the kiddos." He sighed, walking back towards the couch he had been napping on and lying down on it. "Come on, Barty. Nap with Uncle Artie." Suddenly Artur sat back up. "Holy shit, Don. Me and your kid fucking _rhyme_!" He yelled. Meloni started laughing. Don sighed.

"Go to sleep, man." Don said. Artur laid down, placing the baby on his chest.

"You heard the man, Bart. Sleep." Artur muttered.

The room disappeared, leaving the Team in a pitch-black area.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

"The memory ended. We'll mainly be going through his most important memories, so the setting will disappear when the memories end." M'gann quickly explained.

"Was that… Aquaman's kid?" Gar asked, sounding very confused.

"I believe so." Kaldur said.

"Why was he acting like that?" Cassie asked.

"I… wish I knew." Kaldur said.

"Bart has a brother?" The Flash asked, seemingly to himself.

"Yeah, and apparently he's named Thaddeus." Artemis said. "Poor kid." She muttered quietly.

The room from before reappeared around them. Most of the people had moved positions. Meloni was on a different couch with both babies and young boy and girl. The boy was around the age of 10 and had reddish hair and blue eyes. The girl was about 3 or 4, had dark brown, curly hair, an inhibitor collar, and her skin was a few shades darker than the other two. Don and Artur weren't anywhere to be seen, but on the couch next to them was a man and woman, leaning against each other, with the man's arm around her shoulders. The man was black and tall, with short cropped hair. The woman was slightly smaller than him, had strawberry blond hair, and also had on an inhibitor collar.

"They're so tiny. Why can't they talk yet?" The girl asked.

"Because they're babies." The boy said. "Don't be stupid."

"Owen. Be nice." Meloni said, at the boy.

"Well she is!" He cried. The girl hit him in the side. "Ow!"

"Owen!" Meloni yelled.

"Jennifer!" The woman on the other couched yelled.

"Sorry Mom." Jennifer said, while glaring at Owen out of the corner of her eye. Meloni sighed.

"Okay, Jenni, other side of me." She moved over on the couch, making room on her other side. Jenni hopped up and walked over.

"Can I hold them?" She asked as she sat down.

"No. Bart and Thaddeus are very delicate, and you're still really little. We have to be careful with them until they get a bit older." Meloni explained. "Owen, however, is big enough to hold them if he wants to." Owen stared at the babies and tilted his head.

"Nah." He said. Meloni raised an eyebrow.

"You don't want to hold your either of your baby brothers?" She asked.

"Nah. Can I go play with my friends?" Meloni rolled her eyes and nodded. He got up and left.

"Mommy, can I- "

"Yes." The man on the other couch said.

"Thanks Daddy!" She left through the same door as Owen. The blonde woman laughed and shook her head.

" _Kids_." She said to Meloni. Meloni nodded. "So, when does my brother get back from his mission?" The woman asked.

"Dawn, I know the same amount as you. Actually, I probably know less than you. Lian and Damian don't want to 'stress me out' about missions while I can't go on them." She said. "It's more stressful than just knowing what's going on."

"Believe me, I get it. They did the same thing to me when I had Jenni three years ago. It's the worst!" Dawn said. The man unwrapped his arm and stood up. He walked over to Meloni.

"Can I hold one of my nephews?" He asked. Meloni handed him Bart. He shifted the small baby into his arms and sat back down. He shifted the baby so it could see both him and Dawn. "Hey little buddy. I don't think we've been formally introduced." He said. Dawn snorted.

"Jack, he's a baby." She said. Jack kept looking at the baby.

"The lady complaining is your Aunt Dawn." He said. Dawn scoffed and Meloni laughed. "I'm your Uncle Jack. And the little lady you also met is your cousin Jenni. And me and your mom are gonna make sure you kids don't turn out crazy like your aunt and dad." He said conspiratorially, glancing at Dawn out of the corner of his eye. She rolled her eyes.

"Don't listen to him, Bart." She said. "They're the crazy ones."

"How did Jenni turn out so normal with you two weirdos for parents?" Meloni asked, raising her eyebrows at the couple.

"Shh! Be quiet. He's tired." Jack said.

The memory faded to black.


End file.
